“I’ll dive for it,” I told him.
“Wait,” Nicole said. “If you run out of air, I’ll give you mouth-to-mouth. I’ll be the hero who brings you back to life.”
I kissed her on the cheek. “Nicole, that just isn’t possible.”
A waitress brought us a round of blue kamikazes. We raised our shot glasses together and drank without anyone proposing a toast. I stepped out of the hot-tub, grabbed a towel and began drying off. Nicole watched me, waiting for an explanation.
“It’s bad luck when you don’t toast to anything,” Nicole’s friend said. “Is the party breaking up?”
“What are you doing,” Grady asked.
I folded the towel and placed it on a bench. “Do me a favor.”
“What?” he said.
“Remember when we were kids and I crashed Trapper’s go-cart? Apologize for me. Tell everyone it was an accident.”
. . .
Had my usual breakfast, warm beer, two wheat tortillas and a handful of macadamia nuts. After breakfast I moved a leaf blower out of the way and stood in front of the window. A breeze blew the tops of palm trees that lined the parking lot. An man walked by with his basset hound, and a family, dressed for church, climbed into a minivan.
Robbie’s pizza sign was still strapped to the roof of my car. I drove over to the restaurant to return it to him and apologize for last night. He said I could have my job back. I said no thank you. He began writing my final check and I told him to keep the money, then gave him my pizza shirt, said somebody else can wear it.
. . .
Dear Allie,
Hope all is well in Galveston. I sold my car in San Francisco and hopped a plane to Honolulu, Hawaii. Now I’m gorging on macadamia nuts and fresh pineapple. Haven’t met any chicks in hula skirts yet, but when I do, I’ll show ‘em what you taught me. About that letter from the motel, would you mind tossing it in the trash, the postcards too. I may have exaggerated things a bit, and now I’m a little embarrassed. Anyway, all of that is behind me now, a temporary setback is how I look at it.
You’d be surprised to see how well I’m doing. Found a nice apartment with a view of the harbor and landed a good job that offers plenty of free time. When I’m not hiking or surfing, I’m playing golf with friends.
Well, no reason to keep going on, so I’ll wrap things up on this end.
Your biggest fan,
Mitch
. . . . .
Leaving Allison Page 17